Reconnecting

"I have maintained open channels with my childhood. I think it may be that way with many artists. Sometimes in the night, when I am on the limit between sleeping and being awake, I can just go through a door into my childhood and everything is as it was - with lights, smells, sounds and people."

--Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)

I found this quote in a very interesting Ingmar Bergman obituary yesterday. In some of my most profound moments of late I have had a similar experience while putting Amado to bed. We both slip to the edge of consciousness---but aren't quite asleep---then a memory from my childhood surfaces and I just let it sit there in this place for a while. After a few seconds, it feels like it starts unfolding, with all the details---the colours and smells and tactile feelings---coming to life. I follow each of these senses like a path, deeper and deeper into the memory, which at that point becomes much more real than me lying on a bed with a baby in my arms. When I return, Amado is asleep and I feel like some sort of small healing has taken place inside of me.